UGH, youuuuuuuu guys... You're so awesome. I was checking this story and there were comments and new subbies (hey new people!) and upvotes and I cannot thank you enough.

Like, you might think it's no big deal but a cute comment can get me to write whole pages.

For example, wybielacz's comment the other day, pretty much saved me for this chapter *wink wink*

Also, major shoutout to theentrancestone because, fun fact: she is an amazing singer and I go to her often for advice about how Kyungsoo would feel when he sings. So the singing parts are hers as much as they are mine. Thanks dude.

Tao was not behind his desk, the hall lights were turned off and Kyungsoo was about to leave, when he saw the door to Kai’s office standing half open, some kind of dim light coming from it. He pushed it open, almost expecting the swindler to be standing behind it, going ‘Boo! Did I scare you?’, but nothing like that happened.

Kai was lying, sprawled on his favorite couch. It seemed he was dozing off, at first, but after Kyungsoo came closer he discovered that the younger guy was only staring at the ceiling. Maybe, he had been waiting for Kyungsoo and perhaps, Kyungsoo had been waiting to be there as well.  Or perhaps he was just making assumptions. Kyungsoo was sadly good at that.

He sighed and took off his suit jacket, putting it carefully on an empty armchair, before slumping on the other couch. “I felt like a fish out of water.” He said, trying not to grin at the words.

Kai rose a bit to eye him suspiciously. “Wait, was that a-” He sounded disbelieving, which didn’t help at all to swipe off Kyungsoo’s smile.

“Yes. It’s a pun.” The singer agreed cheekily. “I’ve been thinking about it all night and I had no one to say it to. So there.”

“Funny Kyungsoo…” The dark-skinned guy said softly and relaxed back to his previous position, eyes stubbornly looking up and away from Kyungsoo, again.

There was a lamp hanging from the ceiling, nice and prettily-designed, that the singer had never noticed before, possibly because it was never . It wasn’t at that time either, which, for once made sense.  It was almost one in the morning and even if it was prime time for the clubs in Hongdae (Kyungsoo knew, because there was music coming from outside), it still felt wrong to have vivid lights inside Kai’s forever dark office so late in the night.

The vintage lamp on the coffee table, with the silver, flowery details, was the only light source in the room. And it was currently painting shadows around Kai’s cheekbones, under his perfect jawline and on the right side of his face; the side that was half buried in the leather couch.

Kai had never looked more like a mystery.

And there was a voice, playing hide-and-seek in Kyungsoo’s head, whispering that Kai had never looked more handsome, either.  

Stupid voice.

The singer loosened his bowtie and was about to say something, just to ease the tension that was becoming palpable, when Kai said, “How was it?”

“I didn’t embarrass myself, for once.” And Kim Junmyun had looked interested, he thought of adding, but held back. What would be the point of bragging to Kai? It’s not like he would ever be impressed from it. “I think it went well. No one hated me. That’s for sure.” He put in, mildly.

“I didn’t ask what they thought of you. I asked how it was. For you.” Kai spoke with his casual voice, the voice he used when he wasn’t angry, or threatening someone.

It was a youthful voice, made of soft babbling (the kind that would have made Kyungsoo’s mother snap and say ‘speak clearly!’) and the occasional jibe of sarcasm. Nothing challenging, dark, or at all charming about it; Kai’s casual voice was just smooth and friendly. Kyungsoo thought he liked that voice.

“How was it… for you?”The younger guy repeated, hesitantly, and suddenly there was some shuffling. Kai’s long fingers tangling at the ends of his dark gray shirt and pulling it lower on his waist, in a move that seemed almost self-conscious. 

Kyungsoo diverted his eyes from the sight. “It wasn’t awful.” He risked. “I mean something as pretty as that hotel, can never be awful. But it overwhelmed me, I guess. I really meant it when I said I was like a fish out of water.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in and then Kai nodded and continued, “Kim Junmyun? How was he?”

Well that was an easy one. “Great, of course. He was friendly and beautiful and… great.” Kyungsoo acknowledged.

“Good.” The swindler breathed out, squirming and settling more comfortably in the couch. “Good. Awesome.”

And he added in a sharper voice, “Then you’ll be all up for a tennis date next week.”

“W-What?” What is a tennis date, to begin with? Kyungsoo had heard of movie dates and dinner dates, coffee dates, but never tennis dates.

“I would have arranged for a golf date. Junmyun prefers golf. However the idea of you swinging a metallic stick around a place with small lakes and golf carts and god knows what else, sounded ridiculous, even in my imagination. So tennis it is. Way less hazardous. There’s a net too, so it’s practically impossible for you to crush onto Junmyun.” The swindler was blabbering, tone more stressed, than casual. And it was a strange sight, because Kai didn’t really do awkward blabbering, as a rule. “I mean, crush onto him, literally. Cause you’re already crushing on him metaphorically.”  He choked a laugh at his own joke and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but eye him with confusion. Joking around was also something Kai didn’t do.

“Okay,” The singer nodded, because the panicked expression on the guy’s face was making him uncomfortable and he had been uncomfortable all night, so he really didn’t need that from Kai too. Besides, what reason did the swindler have to panic about tennis? Kyungsoo was the one to go on that date, he couldn’t even play tennis and yet he wasn’t freaking out so much.

“Of course it’s not an actual date, right? I just… Baekhyun called ten minutes ago and said that Junmyun loved you and that they’re going for tennis next Sunday. And that you should go too. Mostly the last part .The last part is the point.” Kai was looking at everything but him, the shuffling of his fingers getting worse, and Kyungsoo felt like someone just punched him in the solar plexus.

He didn’t like that Kai.

“Okay.” His voice came hoarse. “I said okay. Enough now.” He repeated louder.

It seemed to draw the boy out of whatever black hole he had gotten lost in. He took a large breath and finally turned around to face Kyungsoo. Thankfully, the panic had now shifted into stunned silence over Kai’s raised eyebrows and parted lips. And then even the surprise faded away to give back the normal Kai. With a soft frown on his tanned face and the posture of an emperor during feasts, all sprawled on the cough and relaxed, he said, “Right,” and fell silent again.

Kyungsoo didn’t remember anymore, why he had ever found the silence uncomfortable. At that moment, the silence that arched between the two of them was like a blanket; warm and smooth and perfectly comforting after the long day.

He pushed his shoes away and lifted his feet on the couch, leaning back and resting his head on the cushions. Maybe saying that he could stay there, like that, forever, would be a bit too much. Yet Kyungsoo was feeling lighter and happier than he had been in weeks while lying on a dark, leather couch in a swindler’s office in Hongdae, with club music playing in the background.

And of that he was certain.

“Sing something.” Kai said, slowly, almost timidly. “Love song. Can you sing me a real love song?”

Kyungsoo could. He was, apparently, so up for it that his skin was prickling with excitement and his lungs were suddenly bursting.

“Okay. Yes.” He agreed, trying not to stammer as he dared to search Kai’s face in the dim light. “I can do that.”

But what was a real love song?

Melodies played in the singer’s head for a moment; flirting songs, break-up songs and songs about first loves, until he settled for the happier, most hopeful one.

It was an English song that his choir instructor once told him he sang perfectly. So it would be good, probably. (A/N: Listen to the song by clicking here )

He swallowed and fixed his breath, struggling to focus on a very beautiful image. He ended up with only a picture of a boy lying, alone, staring at the ceiling of a dark room.

After the illuminated rooms and the fountains and the breathtaking beauty of Kim Junmyun, here he was, pitifully thinking of Kai, for some reason. Some reason that Kyungsoo was too tired to explore right then, so he chose to sing instead.

It was a soft and smooth song, like Kai’s voice when he was relaxed, only more melodic. Somehow, it made Kyungsoo want to sing with his eyes closed, because he could possibly fall asleep to this song, if he wasn’t the one singing it. At the same time, it was stimulating, made feelings stir in him. Every time he tried to make the words sleek and velvety, they sort of twisted at their ends and grew thorns that scratched his throat.

And then there was that throbbing sensation inside him.

As his voice reached a peak, in the chorus, Kyungsoo thought his ribcage would finally give way and let his heart burst out. The feeling was deeply rooted to his chest and yet so eager to fly out of it, that the rest of him came loose. Almost like every nerve of his body was focused on either screaming ‘this is happiness’, or just dying out.  

The worst idea was venting a look at Kai at that moment.

Kyungsoo had never seen something like that in his life.

Kai was lying there, only a bit straighter than he had been five minutes ago. Yet as he stared back at Kyungsoo, he seemed wrecked. There was no other way to describe it, really. His eyes were glowing, lips shut and jaw raised towards Kyungsoo, as if he was urging him closer. As if he was fighting to keep his own body still – keep his body from moving towards Kyungsoo’s body- and, somehow, those small movements had managed to escape. Kai was always enticing, but during those moments he screamed of insecurity and fear and pure longing.

It was silly because Kyungsoo kept saying, singing, about open arms and the wish to put someone in his embrace and now he wanted to actually do as much.

He was a simple guy, really, Kyungsoo was. He liked ramyun and Converse shoes. He liked to sing ballads. When he was overwhelmed, his brain short-circuited and sprouted nonsense, when he saw the person he had a crush on, he blushed up to his ears. And when he wanted to hug someone he just went ahead and did that.

He really wanted to hug Kai.

In a brotherly way, his brain provided sternly. Hug, the way he would have hugged a friend.

Only, the moment Kyungsoo leapt forward and wrapped his arms, like an oversensitive teenage girl, over Kai’s shoulders, it was anything but friendly.

He knew what friendly hugs were supposed to feel like because Chanyeol actually was an oversensitive teenage girl and he loved giving bear hugs in inappropriate times, like when Kyungsoo washed the dishes. Chanyeol’s hugs felt cozy and comforting.

Hugging Kai was like stepping on quick sand.

The breath was out of Kyungsoo and he didn’t even get to finish the song, which… didn’t even matter anymore, really, because he was starting to shiver and ache with the closeness. Kai’s body was not soft, exactly, but Kyungsoo couldn’t help but sink his fingers a little, in the fabric of his shirt and the skin under it, until he found something to clutch onto. Something solid, like the back of Kai’s neck, or the bones under his shoulders.

And the more he held onto it and tried to steady himself over the guy, the more he got lost in the touch. This felt like getting into an unknown place and the swindler had already done that to Kyungsoo’s life and goals, so it was not fair that he was doing it to his body too. He had given up his voice and now, when he had found Kyungsoo vulnerable, he was trying to take over the rest of him as well.

The singer would have protested, if he hadn’t been the one to start the hug. Or if he had in fact been able to make proper sentences at that point, while Kai was raising an arm to hug him back crookedly.

Having the younger guy actually reciprocating this awkward attempt at comforting (or whatever Kyungsoo had been trying to do, which now that he thought of it, wasn’t very clear since the beginning) was what made him come back to his senses.

The singer flied backwards, the other’s hand not really holding him back, and cleared his throat. Because that was what people did after being very and utterly embarrassing in front of someone.

“That’s-” Kyungsoo’s voice faltered a bit. “That’s, um…”

“Why did you do that?” Kai asked, his face suddenly flushing with anger.

He was probably one of those people who don’t like surprise hugs, or generally extreme displays of affection and Kyungsoo should have seen that coming.

“I’m sorry?” He tried weakly, biting down on his lip nervously.

“Yes, but why?” The boy insisted, as if Kyungsoo had committed a crime he needed to apologize for.

Well okay then, he thought as he started to get annoyed. “You looked pitiful, that’s why. Because, even though you bully everyone and are rude to me, when I see you sitting in here, alone, I just feel sad. I feel sorry for you.”

“You feel sorry for me.” It was not a question.

Actually it was so far from a question that it thoroughly muted Kyungsoo, anger deflating in his throat.

“That’s good.” Kai continued coldly, eyes getting almost metallic. “If it’s only pity, then I don’t mind. You can go ahead and hug me all you like. Would you like to sit with me and talk about our feelings and whatever? That’s good too.”

“Really, you don’t care?” And why did that prospect made Kyungsoo’s heart twist?

“Stupid Kyungsoo.” Kai smirked, like it was a challenge. “Why would I care about what you think of me? You can be as delusional as you please. As long as you don’t fall for me.”

“Fall for you?” The singer screeched, taking a step back in shock.

“Yes. Cause that would completely ruin the job. You’re the Little Mermaid, so just love Prince Charming, okay?” Kai’s voice was uncharacteristically low, breaking at the last word with a choked sound.  “You can hug me too, even if I’m the Sea Witch. Even if I won’t feel sorry for you in return. But don’t fall for me. That’s not how the story goes.” 

“What’s this?” Kyungsoo said in a throaty voice, messing his hair with one hand. “Aren’t you too full of yourself? Like I would ever- Ha, keep dreaming! It’s not like that.”

He glared at Kai and found him staring back heavily.

They stayed like that for solid minutes until Kyungsoo bit back his frustration and said, “If you finished being a jerk, I’m gonna go now. Call me when you have news about Junmyun.”

And then he practically ran away from the guy, because that’s how things worked between the two of them.

They talked and joked together, Kyungsoo sang to him and for some damn seconds believed that, maybe, the swindler was not a total bastard. Which was when Kai did something very mean and hurtful; made Kyungsoo want to punch him, or cry his eyes out, or run away. Run away and pretend this never happened, just to be able to come back there and continue this charade the next day.  

So Kyungsoo ran away and pretended his eyes didn’t sting and his arms didn’t ache in the places Kai’s shoulders had fitted before.